RovingPittsburgher: May 2012

Double Fun, Temptations and the Four Tops at Benedum

All I knew was the Temptations were in town and I had not heard them live since the late sixties. So I ran out on the kids after waiting in line for a Mother's Day buffet (thanks Dean and Angel) and got into my dates car with the rest of my dinner in a box. Didn't want to miss a minute of the show. Sunday, May 13, 2012 at the Benedum in Pittsburgh.

It’s a long way from the sixties but trust me Otis Williams still has a million dollar smile and what seems to be the same energy. And this was the first time that I ever heard him sing a solo. Wow! Otis is the only original member of the Temps but it matters not as each of the current members from “Big Love “Bruce Williamson to their new baritone, Joe Herndon each add their own professional energy and charisma to the group.

For those of you who do not know: Over the course of their career, the Temptations have released four Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles and 14 Billboard R&B number-one singles. Their material has earned them three Grammy Awards, while two more awards were conferred upon the songwriters and producers who crafted their 1972 hit "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone". The Temptations were the first Motown act to earn a Grammy Award. Six Temptations: Dennis Edwards, Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, Otis Williams, and Paul Williams were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. Three classic Temptations songs, "My Girl", "Ain't Too Proud to Beg", and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", are among The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

The Temptations portion of the show ended with the Temptations National Anthem, “My Girl” and the audience dancing in and out of their seats. From Wikipedia

What a night! The Four Tops portion of the show was a bit tamer and a lot more nostalgic as their missing members have passed on and the Duke is the only remaining living member. But still it was hard not to think of who you were holding in your arms in High School dancing to the Four Tops. The latest members of the Four Tops are all reminiscent of the original energy of the group. The current members of the group, Lawrence Roquel Payton Jr. Theoplis Peoples III and Lewis Ronald McNeir, all bring unique and legendary talents to the group and make the performance of the Four Tops come to life again.

What a night to remember and by the way it was not just us old timers in the crowd. In my Row J seats up front we were the only “old timers.” Our row was filled with 20 and 30 somethings who unlike us had not forgotten any of the words.

Good News Reporter, Joanne Quinn-Smith is also the Host of PositivelyPittsburghLive Talkcast and the Publisher of PositivelyPittsburghLiveMagazine.com, Pittsburgh's first internet radio and TV network http://pplmag.com

Joanne is the Creative Energy Officer of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates a Pittsburgh Marketing firm which specializes in Web 2.0 Branding. She is a speaker and author and prolific talkcaster. Find her profile on LinkedIn at: http://joannequinnsmith.com

With A Choice Between Ball Game and Symphony, Sure Win--The Symphony!

Cirque De La Symphonie

JoAnn R. Forrester

The Paris Festival of the City of Light presented by the Pittsburgh Symphony has been a month of extraordinary delights. Making me wish I had lived in the city of Light, Paris, at the beginning of the 20^th century. An amazing artistic and vibrant period! If someone has a time machine I am signing up to go back in time to live during that wonderful magical period of artistic endeavor.

Saturday night treat at the Heinz Hall was Cirque De La Symphonie. What a visual and musical evening filled with aerial artists, jugglers extraordinaire, and amazing acrobatic feats accompanied by an energetic, enthusiastic and excellent Pittsburgh Symphony orchestra.

Never in my life did I expect to see at the Heinz Hall such an extraordinary presentation of aerial artists, who flew right above the audience brings gasps of awe and a little fright..especially the first time they flew like magic over us. I was like a kid again at the circus, (but with much better seat) watching the performance of the circus artists…all superb in each of their own specialties.

The conductor Lawrence Loh amiably joined some of the comic shenanigans and his conducting the performance of the symphony was a masterful delight.

Town was bustling Saturday night, with a Pirates s game, and other theatrical events. One of the great things about going to the Pittsburgh Symphony instead of the ball game is that it is ALWAYS a winner. So given a choice between a ball game and the symphony I am taking the one that is almost a sure bet…the symphony!

JoAnn Forrester is the Host of Empress of Biz, Reinvent in Rugged Times, a business Talkcast syndicated on PPLMag, Pittsburgh's First Internet Radio and TV Network. You can hear JoAnn at Business friends every Thursday at 9 AM on the TalkShoe network or archived later at: http://pplmag.com

Four Year Old Loves "American in Paris" and so Did Grandma!

Four Year Old Loves "American in Paris"

and so Did Grandma!

by Good News Roving Pittsburgher Reporter

Joanne Quinn-Smith

On Friday, May 11 at Heinz Hall, Anne Martindale Williams appeared in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra premiere of Honeger's Cello Concerto. She finished to a drawn out standing ovation and a little four year old girl dressed in a long white dress was enthralled. Yes I took a four year old to the symphony. At Ravel the week-end before a couple of my fellow attendees were bemoaning the age of the average symphony attendee and so I decided that it was time to take my granddaughter Anaiyah for her first taste of the symphony. I was excited to learn how early American jazz influenced European genre of symphony music with Gershwin’s “American in Paris” and other compositions and my granddaughter was just excited to be at THE SYMPHONY.

The Beach Boys were in town and the tail end of Legally Blonde and a Pirates Game so when we finally found a parking space it was quite a walk. Normally I would have diner in town first and not experienced the traffic or parking challenge as I would have been in early. But I thought dinner and the symphony was a bit much for a four year old.

So we got in late and sat for the overture in the overflow area after our long walk and I was amazed that the only question my granddaughter asked was, “Why can’t we go inside?” as she watched through the window. Once inside she fit right into the symphony crowd. Her grandmother could not remember the names of the “kinds of violins.” So she leaned over to a symphony enthusiast seated next to us and asked, “What’s the big violin called.” Our music lover and aficionado explained the violin, the cello, the viola and the double bass and Anaiyah is still explaining it to others.

Now admittedly my granddaughter is a bit precocious as guests around us kept turning around to see if she was still there because she was so attentive and quiet as the orchestra played. She clapped enthusiastically and every once in a while said, “Grandma it sounds like butterflies or …..squirrels running up a tree.” At one point Gershwin’s “American in Paris” reminded her of galloping horses. Finally she said, “Grandma this symphony is cartoon music” --obviously a reference to vintage cartoons that her mother and father allow her to watch.

Isn’t that what the symphony is all about? Feeding your soul, stirring your imagination and enlarging your horizons? Well it did all of this for one small four year old and also for her grandma and that is the best review I can give of “An American in Paris.” My best advice, take your children and grandchildren to the symphony, instill the love of music in them and look at the wonderful tapestry of music that the Pittsburgh Symphony provides. Look at it through the eyes of a child.

My granddaughter may have been the youngest attendee of the Magic of Paris Festival, but she was probably the most attentive. Asked by other guests leaving the symphony what she liked best, she waved her hands to mime an orchestra conductor and said, “I like it best when the conductor tells everyone what to play.”

Wednesday, May 16, 2012